The present invention relates to a line guide for a fishing rod. More specifically, it relates to a line ring for a fishing rod in which a holder frame having an annular shape for holding the guide ring through which the fishing line is caused to pass and a mounting leg for mounting the holder frame on the fishing rod are formed integrally by a single piece of metal sheet. In particular, the number of the mounting legs is single.
Today, many line guides which are mounted on outer surfaces of fishing rods are of a type in which a guide ring made of ceramics or the like is mounted on a frame made of metal.
FIG. 5 shows an example of a conventional line guide ring having such a structure. Reference character b denotes a frame which is integrally formed of a holder frame c and a mounting leg d which are made of a single metal plate. The holder frame c is in the form of a ring, and is located to extend from an outer circumferential edge e of the holder frame c in a direction in parallel to the axis thereof. Reference character f denotes a guide ring which is internally fitted in the holder frame c.
The above-described mounting leg d is mounted on the fishing rod. In general, the mounting is carried by winding a thread around the fishing rod together with the mounting leg d under the condition that the mounting leg d is seated on the outer circumferential surface of the fishing rod.
There are many components for affecting the performance of the fishing rod. Among them, the line guide ring is one of the important components which have something to do with various factors such as weight and action performance of the fishing rod, distance of a fishing device, casting controllability for positioning the fishing device at the point in the water and the like.
In order to enhance the casting controllability in particular, it is necessary to reduce as much as possible "twist" of the rod in casting the fishing device. To meet this requirement, it is necessary to maintain the fishing line as close as possible to the fishing rod at least along the rod tip or at the position close to the rod tip, to thereby reduce the twist moment, if any.
In order to achieve this, it is necessary to shorten as much as possible the distance between the inner circumferential surface of the guide ring of the line guide ring and the fishing rod. For the frame b, the distance is represented by a dimension H from the inner circumferential surface of the holder c to the bottom surface of the mounting leg d.
However, in the above-described conventional line guide ring a, it was practically impossible to decrease the above-described dimension H down to the level which is equal to or less than 2t (where t is the thickness of the metal plate which forms the frame b). More specifically, the thickness of the mounting leg d is defined by the plate thickness t, itself, of the metal plate selected as the material. In view of the machining aspect, the minimum plate thickness t is required for the width w of the holder frame c. Namely, in view of the necessity that the holder c has to hold the guide ring f, it is necessary to form the holder frame in a perfect circle ring shape. Also, in order to bend the mounting leg d relative to the holder frame c, it is necessary to provide a "bending allowance" to some extent. After all, the above-described dimension H should be about twice larger than the thickness t of the metal plate.
For this reason, the fishing rod having the conventional line guide ring a suffers from a problem that it is difficult to enhance the casting controllability.